www.AmericanSecurityProject.

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Regional Disaster Vulnerability Links Between Climate and Confict
Te Need to Adapt Direct Treats to Homeland Security
Torrential rainfall
Rise in sea levels causing widespread erosion
Summer droughts and winter fooding
4
Farming communities threatened by fooding
Climate change deniers in government
7
Reliance on oil production
Further development of oil felds of coast
8
Supporting responses to international conficts arising from
environmental migrations
5
Highly concentrated urban areas at risk from extreme
weather
6
Displaced coastal communities
Damage to infrastructure resulting in non-efective
transportation
9

The United Kingdom is an island nation in the North
Atlantic. Because of its heavily indented coastline, no
location is more than 125 km from tidal waters, leaving
it vulnerable to coastal erosion, a rise in sea levels, and
increasingly common extreme storms.
2
The governments latest climate change risk assessment
identifies flood risk, and particularly flooding from heavy
downpours, as one of the key climate threats for the UK,
alongside stresses on water resources, threats to biodiversity
and natural habitats, and the repercussions for the UK
from climate change impacts abroad. Extreme flood events
could become more frequent and severe, putting homes,
businesses and infrastructure at greater risk.
3
Summary
Country: United Kingdom
Region: Europe
ASP Assessment:
Vulnerability: Medium
Perception of Climate Change:
Security Treat

Capacity: High
Preparedness: High

Overall Assessment: Excellent
I believe man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats
that this country and this world faces. Tat is why we have the worlds
frst green investment bank here in BritainTat is why we have set
out, year after year, carbon budgets in this country. Tey talk a good
game about it but it actually takes people to come in, govern efectively
and deal with it.
David Cameron, United Kingdom Prime Minister
1
Te Climate Treats
United Kingdom
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AMERICAN SECURITY PROJECT
Preparing for Disaster Response Breaking the Link between Climate and Confict
Adapting Installations Planning for Homeland Security Treats
Te scale of the risk posed by coastal or tidal fooding has
the potential to exceed even that posed by the fuvial and
surface water fooding of last summer.
- Prime Ministers Ofce, Te National Security Strategy for the United
Kingdom
9
Treats and risks are driven by a diverse and interconnected
set of underlying factors, including climate change,
competition for energy, poverty and poor governance,
demographic changes and globalization.
- Prime Ministers Ofce, Te National Security Strategy for the United
Kingdom
10
Our security is vulnerable to the efects of climate change
and its impact on food and water supply. So the concept of
national security in 2010 is very diferent to what it was ten
or twenty, let alone ffty or a hundred years ago.
- Prime Ministers Ofce, Te National Security Strategy for the United
Kingdom
12
We are undertaking a systematic detailed analysis, region
by region, of how the impact of climate change is likely to
afect the UK; analyzing our water and food security issues
to ensure sustainable and secure supplies and increasing
our overall investment in climate change research.
- Prime Ministers Ofce, Te National Security Strategy for the United
Kingdom
11
Analysis
Te United Kingdom has been the global leader in addressing the threats posed by climate change since
the then-Foreign Secretary chaired the frst UN Security Council meeting on climate change in 2007. It
has specifcally focused both on how to address the challenges of climate change by the military and shown
that only actions by the whole of government and indeed the world can actually address the problem.
To communicate this, it has detailed a high-level envoy for climate security from the Royal Navy (Rear
Admiral Neil Morisetti) to discuss this around the world. As a country that frmly understands how climate
change threatens national security, the United Kingdom ranks, Excellent, moderate vulnerability, but highly
prepared.
Te American Security Projects Global Security Defense Index on Climate
Change is an examination of how international governments and militaries
plan for and anticipate the strategic threats of climate change.
For more information and references see:
globalsecuritydefenseindex.org
How is the Country Preparing for Climate Treats